document_title: Mulan (1998 film)

question_text: who does the voice for the dragon in mulan

text: Mulan (1998 film)

text: Plot

text: The Huns, who are led by the ruthless Shan Yu, invade Han China by breaching the Great Wall. The Chinese emperor orders a general mobilization, with conscription notices requiring one man from each family to join the Chinese army. When Fa Mulan hears that her elderly father Fa Zhou, the only man in their family and an army veteran, is once more to go to war, she becomes anxious and apprehensive due to his weakening health. Taking her father's old armor, she disguises herself as a man so that she can enlist instead of her parent. The family quickly learn of her departure, and Mulan's grandmother prays to the family ancestors for Mulan's safety. The ancestors order their "great stone dragon" to protect Mulan; a small dragon named Mushu, a disgraced former guardian, is sent to awaken the stone dragon, but accidentally destroys it in the process, which Mushu conceals from the ancestors and resolves to protect Mulan himself.

text: Reporting to the training camp, Mulan is able to pass as a man, although her military skills are initially lacking. Mushu provides clumsy guidance to Mulan on how to behave like a man. Under the command of Captain Li Shang, she and her fellow recruits Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po gradually become trained warriors. Desiring to see Mulan succeed, Mushu creates a fake order from Shang's father, General Li, ordering Shang to follow the main imperial army into the mountains. The reinforcements set out, but arrive at a burnt-out encampment and discover that General Li and his troops have been massacred by the Huns.

text: As the reinforcements solemnly leave the mountains, they are ambushed by the Huns, but Mulan cleverly uses a cannon to cause an avalanche, which buries most of the invaders. An enraged Shan Yu slashes her in the chest, and her deception is revealed when the wound is bandaged. Instead of executing Mulan as the law requires, Shang spares her life, but nonetheless expels her from the army. Mulan is left to follow alone as the recruits depart for the imperial city to report the news of the Huns' destruction. However, it is discovered that several Hun warriors, including Shan Yu, have survived the avalanche, and Mulan catches sight of them as they make their way to the city, intent on capturing the emperor.

text: At the imperial city, Mulan is unable to convince Shang about Shan Yu's survival. The Huns capture the emperor and seize the palace. With Mulan's help, Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po pose as concubines, and are able to enter the palace. With the help of Shang, they defeat Shan Yu's men; as Shang prevents Shan Yu from assassinating the Emperor, Mulan lures the Hun leader onto the roof, where she engages him in single combat. Meanwhile, acting on Mulan's instructions and signal, Mushu fires a large skyrocket at Shan Yu. The rocket strikes and propels him into a fireworks launching tower, where he dies in the resulting explosion.

text: Mulan is praised by the Emperor and the assembled inhabitants of the city, who bow to her in an unprecedented honor. While she accepts the crest of the Emperor and the sword of Shan Yu as gifts, she politely declines his offer to be his advisor, and asks to return to her family. Mulan returns home and presents these gifts to her father, who is overjoyed to have Mulan back safely. Having become enamored with Mulan, Shang soon arrives under the pretext of returning her helmet, but accepts the family's invitation to stay for dinner. Mushu is reinstated as a Fa family guardian by the ancestors amid a returning celebration.

text: Cast

text:
Ming-Na Wen as Mulan (singing voice provided by Lea Salonga)
Eddie Murphy as Mushu
BD Wong as Captain Li Shang (singing voice provided by Donny Osmond)
Miguel Ferrer as Shan Yu
June Foray as Grandmother Fa (singing voice provided by Marni Nixon)
Harvey Fierstein as Yao
Gedde Watanabe as Ling (singing voice provided by Matthew Wilder)
Jerry Tondo as Chien-Po
James Hong as Chi-Fu
Soon-Tek Oh as Fa Zhou
Pat Morita as The Emperor of China
George Takei as First Ancestor
Miriam Margolyes as The Matchmaker
Freda Foh Shen as Fa Li
James Shigeta as General Li
Frank Welker as Cri-Kee and Khan (Mulan's horse)
Chris Sanders as Little Brother (Mulan's dog)
Mary Kay Bergman as various ancestors

text: Kelly Chen, Coco Lee and Xu Qing voiced Mulan in the Cantonese, Taiwanese Mandarin and Mainland standard versions of the film respectively, while Jackie Chan provided the voice of Li Shang in all three Chinese versions and appeared in the version of promotional music videos of "I'll Make a Man Out of You".

text: Production

text: Development

text: In 1989, Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida had opened with 40 to 50 employees,[4] with its original purpose to produce cartoon shorts and featurettes.[5] However, by late 1993, following several animation duties on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, Disney executives were convinced to allow the Feature Animation Florida studios to produce their first independent film.[6] Around that same time, Disney Feature Animation developed an interest into Asian-themed legends beginning with the optioning several books by children's book author Robert D. San Souci who had a consulting relationship with Disney executive Jay Dyer.[7] Around that same time, a short straight-to-video film titled China Doll about an oppressed and miserable Chinese girl who is whisked away by a British Prince Charming to happiness in the West was in development. Thomas Schumacher asked Souci if he had any additional stories, in which Souci turned in a manuscript of a book based on the Chinese poem "The Song of Fa Mu Lan". Ultimately, Disney decided to combine the two separate projects.[8][9]

text: Following the opening of the Feature Animation Florida studios, Barry Cook, who had served as a special-effects animator department since 1982,[10] had directed the Roger Rabbit cartoon Trail Mix-Up produced at the satellite studio. Upon a lunch invitation with Thomas Schumacher, Cook was offered two projects in development: a Scottish folk tale with a dragon or Mulan. Knowledgeable about the existence of dragons in Chinese mythology, Cook suggested adding a dragon to Mulan, in which a week later, Schumacher urged Cook to drop the Scottish project and accept Mulan as his next project.[11]  Following this, Cook was immediately assigned as the initial director of the project,[12] and cited influences from Charlie Chaplin and David Lean during production.[13] While working as an animator on the gargoyles for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tony Bancroft was offered to co-direct the film following a recommendation from Rob Minkoff, co-director of The Lion King, to Schumacher, in which he accepted,[14] and joined the creative team by early 1995.[15]

text: In 1994, the production team sent a select group of artistic supervisors to China for three weeks to take photographs and drawings of local landmarks for inspiration; and to soak up local culture.[16] Key members of the creative team at the time – Pam Coats, Barry Cook, Ric Sluiter, Robert Walker, and Mark Henn – were invited to travel to China as a research trip to study the landscape, people, and history of the original legend. From June 17 to July 2, 1994, the research trip flew to Beijing, China, which is where Pam Coats became inspired by the placement of flags on the Great Wall. They also toured Datong, Luoyang, Xi'an, Jiayuguan, Dunhuang, and Guilin.[17]

text: Writing

text: In its earliest stages, the story was originally conceived as a Tootsie-like romantic comedy film where Mulan, who was a misfit tomboy that loves her father, is betrothed to Shang, whom she has not met. On her betrothal day, her father Fa Zhou carves her destiny on a stone tablet in the family temple, which she shatters in anger, running away to forge her own destiny.[18] In November 1993, Chris Sanders, who had just finished storyboard work on The Lion King, was hoping to work on The Hunchback of Notre Dame until Schumacher appointed him to work on Mulan instead.[19] Acting as Head of Story, Sanders grew frustrated with the romantic comedy aspect of the story, and urged producer Pam Coats to be more faithful to the original legend by having Mulan leave home because of the love for her father.[20] This convinced the filmmakers to decide to change Mulan's character in order to make her more appealing and selfless.[21]

text: Sequence Six – in which Mulan takes her father's conscription order, cuts her long hair, and dons her father's armor – served as a pivotal moment in the evolution of Mulan's character. Director Barry Cook explained that the sequence initially started as a song storyboarded by Barry Johnson and redrawn by character designer Chen-Yi Chang. Following the story changes to have Mulan leave to save her father, the song was dropped. Storyboard artist and co-head of story Dean DeBlois was tasked to revise the sequence, and decided to board the sequence with "minimal dialogue".[22] Assisted with an existing musical selection from another film score courtesy of Sanders, the sequence reel was screened for Peter Schneider and Thomas Schumacher, both of whom were impressed. DeBlois stated, "Sequence Six was the first sequence that got put into production, and it helped to establish our 'silent' approach."[23] Additionally, General Li was not originally going to be related to Shang at all, but by changing the story, the filmmakers were able to mirror the stories of both Shang's and Mulan's love for their fathers.[24] As a Christian, Bancroft declined to explore Buddhism within the film.[25]

text: Because there was no dragon in the original legend, Mulan did not have animal companions; it was Roy E. Disney who suggested the character of Mushu.[13] Veteran story artist Joe Grant created the cricket character, Cri-Kee for, though animator Barry Temple admitted "the directors didn't want him in the movie, the story department didn't want him in the movie. The only people who truly wanted him in the movie were Michael Eisner and Joe Grant – and myself, because I was assigned the character. I would sit in meetings and they’d say, 'Well, where's the cricket during all this?' Somebody else would say, 'Oh, to hell the cricket.' They felt Cri-Kee was a character who wasn't necessary to tell the story, which is true."[26] Throughout development on the film, Grant would slip sketches of Cri-Kee under the directors' door.[27]

text: Casting

text: Before production began, the production team sought out Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, or Korean vocal talents.[28] Tia Carrere was an early candidate to voice the title character,[29] and Lea Salonga, who had been the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin, was also cast as Mulan's speaking voice, but the directors did not find her attempt at a deeper speaking voice when Mulan impersonated Ping convincing, so Ming-Na Wen was brought in to speak the role. Salonga returned to provide the singing voice.[30] Wen herself landed the role after the filmmakers listened to her narration at the beginning of The Joy Luck Club. Coats reflected on her decision, stating, "When we heard Ming-Na doing that voice-over, we knew we had our Mulan. She has a very likable and lovely voice, and those are the qualities we were looking for."[31]

text: For the role of Mushu, Disney was aiming for top Hollywood talent in the vein of Robin Williams's performance as the Genie,[31] and approached Eddie Murphy, who at first balked during recording in the Disney studios, and asked to record the voice in his basement at his Bubble Hill mansion in Englewood, New Jersey.[32]

text: For the speaking voice of Captain Li Shang, BD Wong was hired,[33] although his singing voice, for the song "I'll Make a Man Out of You", was performed by Donny Osmond, who had previously auditioned to be the speaking voice of the title character in Hercules.[34] Osmond's casting originated from a suggestion from the casting director,[34] and throughout recording, Osmond studied Wong's dialogue tapes, and aimed to match his inflections and personality.[35] Osmond commented that his sons decided that he had finally "made it" in show business when he was in a Disney film.[36] Likewise for the role of Grandmother Fa, June Foray provided the speaking voice, and Marni Nixon supplied the singing voice.[37]

text: Animation and design

text: To achieve a harmonious visual look, producer designer Hans Bacher and art director Ric Sluiter, along with Robert Walker and Head of Backgrounds Robert Stanton collaborated to establish a proper chronological location for the film in Chinese history. Since there was no general consensus on the time of Mulan's existence, they based on the visual design on the Ming and Qing dynasties.[38] An important element of Bacher's design was to turn the art style closer to Chinese painting, with watercolor and simpler design, as opposed to the details of The Lion King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.[39] Bacher further studied more than thirty-five film directors ranging from the silent era German Expressionism, British and American epics of the 1950s and 60s, and the spaghetti westerns for inspiration for composition, lighting, and staging that would establish settings that enhanced the characters,[40] and additional inspiration was found in the earlier Disney animated films such as Bambi, Pinocchio, and Dumbo to establish a sense of staging.[41]

text: In October 1997, the Walt Disney Company announced a major expansion of its Florida animation operations constructing a 200,000-square-foot, four-story animation building and the addition of 400 animators to the workforce.[42]

text: To create 2,000 Hun soldiers during the Huns' attack sequence, the production team developed crowd simulation software called Attila. This software allows thousands of unique characters to move autonomously. A variant of the program called Dynasty was used in the final battle sequence to create a crowd of 3,000 in the Forbidden City. Pixar's photorealistic open API RenderMan was used to render the crowd. Another software developed for this movie was Faux Plane, which was used to add depth to flat two-dimensional painting. Although developed late in production progress, Faux Plane was used in five shots, including the dramatic sequence which features the Great Wall of China, and the final battle sequence when Mulan runs to the Forbidden City. During the scene in which the Chinese are bowing to Mulan, the crowd is a panoramic film of real people bowing. It was edited into the animated foreground of the scene.[43]

text: Music

text: In March 1994, Stephen Schwartz was attached to compose the lyrics and music for the songs for the film.[44] Following the research trip to China in June 1994, Schwartz was contacted by former Disney studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg to compose songs for The Prince of Egypt, which he agreed. Peter Schneider, then-president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, threatened to have Schwartz's name removed from any publicity materials for Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Michael Eisner phoned Schwartz, and urged him to back out of his commitment to DreamWorks which he refused and left the project.[45] After Schwartz's departure, his three songs, "Written in Stone", "Destiny", and "China Doll", were dropped amid story and character changes by 1995.[46][47] Shortly after, Disney music executive Chris Montan heard Matthew Wilder's demo for a stage musical adaptation of Anne Rice's Cry to Heaven, and selected Wilder to replace Schwartz.[46] In July 1997, David Zippel joined to write the lyrics.[48] The film featured five songs composed by Wilder and Zippel, with a sixth originally planned for Mushu, but dropped following Eddie Murphy's involvement with the character.[49]

text: Although Danny Elfman and Thomas Newman were considered to score the film, English composer Rachel Portman was selected as the film composer. However, Portman became pregnant during production, and decided to back out.[14] Following Portman's departure, Randy Edelman—whose Dragonheart theme was used in the trailer—and Kitarō were considered,[46] until Jerry Goldsmith became available and signed on after dropping out of a project.[14] The film's soundtrack is credited for starting the career of pop singer Christina Aguilera, whose first song to be released in the U.S. was her rendition of "Reflection", the first single from the Mulan soundtrack. The song, and Aguilera's vocals, were so well received that it landed her a recording contract with RCA Records.[50] In 1999, she would go on to release her self-titled debut album, on which "Reflection" was also included. The pop version of "Reflection" has a Polish version ("Lustro" performed by Edyta Górniak) and two Spanish versions, for Spain (performed by Malú) and Latin America (performed by Lucero). Other international versions include a Brazilian Portuguese version by Sandy & Junior ("Imagem"), a Korean version performed by Lena Park, and a Mandarin version by Coco Lee.

text: The music featured during the haircut scene, often referred as the Mulan Decision score, is different in the soundtrack album. The soundtrack album uses an orchestrated score while the movie uses heavy synthesizer music. The synthesizer version is available on the limited edition CD.[51] Salonga, who often sings movie music in her concerts, has done a Disney medley which climaxes with an expanded version of "Reflection" (not the same as those in Aguilera's version). Salonga also provided the singing voice for Mulan in the film's sequel, Mulan II.

text: Release

text: Because of the disappointing box office performances of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules, Disney restricted its marketing campaign for Mulan spending $30 million on promotional advertisements compared to more than $60 million for Hercules the year before.[52] Instead of the lavish media event premieres of Pocahontas in Central Park and the electric light parade on Fifth Avenue for Hercules, Disney opted to premiere the film at the Hollywood Bowl complete with Chinese lanterns and fortune cookies.[52][53] Two days before the general release, McDonald's launched its promotional campaign by including one of eight toys free with the purchase of a Happy Meal.[54] The promotion also included Szechuan sauce for its Chicken McNuggets, which would be referenced in a 2017 episode of the Adult Swim series Rick and Morty and subsequently brought back by McDonald's as a promotional item related to that show.[55]

text: In collaboration with Disney, Hyperion Books published The Art of Mulan authored by Jeff Kurtti, which chronicled the production of the film. In addition with its publication, Hyperion Books also issued a collector's "folding, accordion book" of the ancient poem that inspired the film.[56] On August 18, 1998, around 3,700 backpacks and 1,800 pieces of luggage were recalled back to their manufacture, Pyramid Accessories Inc., when it is discovered they contained lead-based paint.[57]

text: Home media

text: The film was first released on VHS on February 2, 1999 as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection line. On November 9, the film was released on DVD as part of the Limited Issues line. In 2000, it was re-released on VHS and DVD as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection line. The second video and DVD release returned to the Disney Vault on January 31, 2002.[58] On October 26, 2004, Walt Disney Home Entertainment rereleased a restored print of Mulan on VHS and as a 2-disc Special Edition DVD.[59]

text: In March 2013, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Mulan and Mulan II on Blu-ray and DVD to coincide with the film's 15th anniversary.[60]

text: In September 2017, Mulan became available to Netflix users through their streaming service.[61]

text: Reception

text: Box office

text: Mulan grossed $22.8 million in its opening weekend,[2] ranking second behind The X-Files.[62] It went on to gross $120 million in the United States and Canada combined, and $304 million worldwide, making it the second-highest grossing family film of the year, behind A Bug's Life, and the seventh-highest grossing film of the year overall.[63] While Mulan domestically out-grossed the previous two Disney animated films which had preceded it, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules, its box office returns failed to match those of the Disney films of the early 1990s such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King.[64] Internationally, its highest grossing releases included those in the United Kingdom ($14.6 million) and France ($10.2 million).[65]

text: Critical reception

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 86%, based on 73 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's consensus reads, "Exploring themes of family duty and honor, Mulan breaks new ground as a Disney film, while still bringing vibrant animation and sprightly characters to the screen."[66] In a 2009 countdown, Rotten Tomatoes ranked it twenty-fourth out of the fifty canonical animated Disney features.[67] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 71 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[68] CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film a rare "A+" grade.[69]

text: Roger Ebert, reviewing for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave Mulan three-and-a-half stars out of four in his written review. He said that "Mulan is an impressive achievement, with a story and treatment ranking with Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King".[70] Likewise, James Berardinelli of ReelViews awarded the film three-and-a-half stars out of four praising the lead character, its theme of war, and the animation. He concluded that "Adults will appreciate the depth of characterization while kids will love Mulan's sidekick, a colorful dragon named Mushu. Everyone will be entertained the fast-moving plot and rich animation."[71] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly graded the film a B+ writing "Vividly animated, with a bursting palette that evokes both the wintry grandeur and decorative splendor of ancient China, Mulan is artful and satisfying in a slightly remote way."[72]

text: Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune described the film as "a big disappointment when compared with the studio's other recent films about a female hero searching for independence." He was further critical of Mulan's characterization in comparison to Ariel and Belle, and claimed the "design of the film does not take advantage of the inspiration provided by classic Chinese artists, and the songs are not memorable."[73] Reviewing the film for the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan wrote "Mulan has its accomplishments, but unlike the best of Disney's output, it comes off as more manufactured than magical." While he praised the title character, he highlighted that the "by-now-standard hip patter (prepare for jokes about cross-dressing) is so tepid that not even five credited writers can revive it, and the songs by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel (with Lea Salonga and Donny Osmond singing for the leads) lack the spark that Zippel's lyrics brought to the underappreciated Hercules."[74] Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine criticized the film as "soulless" in its portrayal of Asian society.[75]

text: This movie was also the subject of comment from feminist critics. Mimi Nguyen says the film "pokes fun at the ultimately repressive gender roles that seek to make Mulan a domesticated creature".[76] Nadya Labi agreed, saying "there is a lyric in the film that gives the lie to the bravado of the entire girl-power movement." She pointed out that Mulan needed to become a boy in order to accomplish what she did. Kathleen Karlyn, an assistant professor of English at the University of Oregon, also criticized the film's portrayal of gender roles: "In order to even imagine female heroism, we're placing it in the realm of fantasy". Pam Coats, the producer of Mulan, said that the film aims to present a character who exhibits both masculine and feminine influences, being both physically and mentally strong.[77]

text: Accolades

text: Mulan won several Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature and Individual achievement awards to Pam Coats for producing; Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft for directing; Rita Hsiao, Christopher Sanders, Phillip LaZebnick, Raymond Singer and Eugenia Bostwick-Singer for writing, Chris Sanders for storyboarding, Hans Bacher for production design, David Tidgwell for effects animation, Ming-Na for voice acting for the character of Mulan, Ruben A. Aquino for character animation, and Matthew Wilder, David Zippel and Jerry Goldsmith for music. (Tom Bancroft and Mark Henn were also nominated for an Annie Award for Character Animation.)[78] The musical score also received significant praise. Jerry Goldsmith won the 1999 BMI Film Music Award. Goldsmith was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score, but lost to Stephen Warbeck's score for Shakespeare in Love.[79] Goldsmith was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. Matthew Wilder and David Zippel were nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "Reflection". They were beaten by The Truman Show and "The Prayer" from Quest for Camelot, respectively.[80]

text: The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

text:
2008: AFI's 10 Top 10:
Nominated Animation Film[81]

text: Reception in China

text: Disney was keen to promote Mulan to the Chinese, hoping to replicate their success with the 1994 film The Lion King, which was one of the country's highest-grossing Western films at that time. Disney also hoped it might smooth over relations with the Chinese government which had soured after the release of Kundun, a Disney-funded biography of the Dalai Lama that the Chinese government considered politically provocative.[82] China had threatened to curtail business negotiations with Disney over that film and, as the government only accepted ten foreign films per year at that time to be shown in their country,[83] Mulan's chances of being accepted were low.[84] Finally, after a year's delay, the Chinese government did allow the film a limited Chinese release, but only after the Chinese New Year, so as to ensure that local films dominated the more lucrative holiday market.[85][86] Box office income was low, due to both the unfavorable release date and rampant piracy. Chinese people also complained about Mulan's depiction as too foreign-looking and the story as too different from the myths.[87][88]

text: Legacy

text: Video game

text: A Windows, Macintosh, and PlayStation point-and-click adventure interactive storybook based on the film, Disney's Animated Storybook: Mulan (titled Disney's Story Studio: Mulan on PlayStation), was released on December 15, 1999. The game was developed by Media Station for computers and Revolution Software (under the name "Kids Revolution") for PlayStation.[89][90] The game was met with generally positive reception and holds a 70.67% average rating at the review aggregator website GameRankings.[91]

text: Live-action adaptation

text: Walt Disney Pictures first expressed interest in a live-action adaptation of Mulan in the 2000s. Zhang Ziyi was to star in it and Chuck Russell was chosen as the director. The film was originally planned to start filming in October 2010, but was eventually canceled.[92]

text: In 2015, Disney again began developing a live-action remake.[93] Elizabeth Martin and Lauren Hynek's script treatment reportedly featured a white merchant who falls in love with Mulan, and is drawn into a central role in the country's conflict with the Huns.[94] According to a Vanity Fair source, the spec script was only a "jumping-off point" and all main characters will in fact be Chinese.[95] Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Jurassic World screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver are to rewrite Hynek and Martin's screenplay with Chris Bender, J. C. Spink and Jason Reed producing.[96] In February 2017, it was announced that Niki Caro will direct the live-action adaptation of the 1998 animated film.[97]

text: The casting process of a Chinese actress to portray the heroine began in October 2016. The film was originally scheduled to be released on November 2, 2018, but it was later taken off the release schedule with The Nutcracker and the Four Realms taking its old slot.[98][99] On November 29, 2017, Liu Yifei was cast as the titular character.[100] In March 2018, Disney scheduled the film for release on March 27, 2020.[3]

text: Donnie Yen was cast as Commander Tung, a mentor and teacher to Mulan.[101] Following him, Jet Li joined the film as the emperor of China, Gong Li was cast as the villain, a witch, and Xana Tang was announced to play Mulan's sister.[102] The next month, Utkarsh Ambudkar was cast as Skatch, a con artist, and Ron Yuan was cast as Sergeant Qiang, the second in command of the Imperial Regiment.[103] In June, Yoson An was cast as Chen Honghui, "a confident and ambitious recruit" who becomes Mulan's love interest.[104] In July, Jason Scott Lee joined the cast as Bori Khan, a secondary villain and warrior seeking revenge.[105] In August 2018, Tzi Ma, Rosalind Chao, Cheng Pei-Pei, Nelson Lee, Jimmy Wong and Doua Moua were added to the cast.[106][107]

text: References in Disney media

text: Although she is royalty neither by birth nor marriage (her husband is merely a high-ranking military officer), Mulan is part of the Disney Princess media franchise.[108] In the film Lilo & Stitch, Nani has a poster of Mulan in her room.[109] Mulan is also present in the Disney and Square Enix video game series Kingdom Hearts. In the first Kingdom Hearts and in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Mushu is a summonable character,[110] and in Kingdom Hearts II, the movie is featured as a playable world named "The Land of Dragons", with the plot being changed to accommodate the game's characters (Sora, Donald and Goofy) and Mulan (both as herself and as "Ping") able to join the player's party as a skilled sword fighter.[110] Actress Jamie Chung plays a live-action version of Mulan in the second, third, and fifth seasons of the ABC television series Once Upon a Time.[111]


document_title: Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

question_text: what type of government is the democratic republic of congo

root

text: Description[edit]

text: Under the constitution of the Third Republic, the government is composed of a cabinet of ministers, deputy-ministers (vice-ministers), and occasionally state-ministers (which is a senior personal honorific title). The number of these ministers vary from one government to the next.

tag: p

text: The cabinet is headed by the Prime Minister, also known as the head of government, appointed by the President, from the political party, the group or the coalition that holds the majority of seats in the National Assembly.

text: In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the cabinet is more commonly simply referred to as The Government.

text: The government is the effective executive arm of the state, in charge of all the country's main administration, in all the domains reserved to the central government by the constitution, and in all the domains in which the central government has concurrent jurisdiction with the provinces.

text: The government is accountable to the Parliament. Any individual member of the government, as well the entire government, can be censored by its lower-chamber, the National Assembly, through the vote of a motion of censure, or a motion of no-confidence. When the Prime minister is censored, the entire government is asked to step down.[1]

text: Current government[edit]

text: The current government is referred to as the republic government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala. The Government coalition cabinet was appointed shortly after the resignation of former Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo.


document_title: Binomial nomenclature

question_text: who introduced the two-part system (genus and species) that biologists use to name organisms

question_tokens: who introduced the two-part system ( genus and species ) that biologists use to name organisms

text: Binomial nomenclature

text: Origin[edit]

text: The name split into two parts means "Bi" a Latin prefix for two, and "Nomial" which is a noun commonly used in mathematics, algebra to define a name or term.

text: General[edit]

text: Binomial nomenclature (also called binominal nomenclature or binary nomenclature) is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages. Such a name is called a binomial name (which may be shortened to just "binomial"), a binomen, binominal name or a scientific name; more informally it is also called a Latin name. The first part of the name identifies the genus to which the species belongs; the second part identifies the species within the genus. For example, humans belong to the genus Homo and within this genus to the species Homo sapiens. The formal introduction of this system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus, effectively beginning with his work Species Plantarum in 1753.[1] But Gaspard Bauhin, in as early as 1623, had introduced in his book Pinax theatri botanici (English, Illustrated exposition of plants) many names of genera that were later adopted by Linnaeus.[2]

text: The application of binomial nomenclature is now governed by various internationally agreed codes of rules, of which the two most important are the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) for animals and the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN). Although the general principles underlying binomial nomenclature are common to these two codes, there are some differences, both in the terminology they use and in their precise rules.

text: In modern usage, the first letter of the first part of the name, the genus, is always capitalized in writing, while that of the second part is not, even when derived from a proper noun such as the name of a person or place. Similarly, both parts are italicized when a binomial name occurs in normal text (or underlined in handwriting). Thus the binomial name of the annual phlox (named after botanist Thomas Drummond) is now written as Phlox drummondii.

text: In scientific works, the "authority" for a binomial name is usually given, at least when it is first mentioned, and the date of publication may be specified.

text:
In zoology

"Patella vulgata Linnaeus, 1758". The name "Linnaeus" tells the reader who it was that first published a description and name for this species of limpet; 1758 is the date of the publication in which the original description can be found (in this case the 10th edition of the book Systema Naturae).
"Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758)". The original name given by Linnaeus was Fringilla domestica; the parentheses indicate that the species is now considered to belong in a different genus. The ICZN does not require that the name of the person who changed the genus be given, nor the date on which the change was made, although nomenclatorial catalogs usually include such information.

In botany

"Amaranthus retroflexus L." – "L." is the standard abbreviation used in botany for "Linnaeus".
"Hyacinthoides italica (L.) Rothm. – Linnaeus first named this bluebell species Scilla italica; Rothmaler transferred it to the genus Hyacinthoides; the ICN does not require that the dates of either publication be specified.

tag: ul

text: History[edit]

text: Prior to the adoption of the modern binomial system of naming species, a scientific name consisted of a generic name combined with a specific name that was from one to several words long. Together they formed a system of polynomial nomenclature.[3] These names had two separate functions. First, to designate or label the species, and second, to be a diagnosis or description; however these two goals were eventually found to be incompatible.[4] In a simple genus, containing only two species, it was easy to tell them apart with a one-word genus and a one-word specific name; but as more species were discovered the names necessarily became longer and unwieldy, for instance Plantago foliis ovato-lanceolatus pubescentibus, spica cylindrica, scapo tereti ("Plantain with pubescent ovate-lanceolate leaves, a cylindric spike and a terete scape"), which we know today as Plantago media.

text: Such "polynomial names" may sometimes look like binomials, but are significantly different. For example, Gerard's herbal (as amended by Johnson) describes various kinds of spiderwort: "The first is called Phalangium ramosum, Branched Spiderwort; the second, Phalangium non ramosum, Unbranched Spiderwort. The other ... is aptly termed Phalangium Ephemerum Virginianum, Soon-Fading Spiderwort of Virginia".[5] The Latin phrases are short descriptions, rather than identifying labels.

text: The Bauhins, in particular Caspar Bauhin (1560–1624), took some important steps towards the binomial system, by pruning the Latin descriptions, in many cases to two words.[6] The adoption by biologists of a system of strictly binomial nomenclature is due to Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linné, more commonly known by his Latinized name Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). It was in his 1753 Species Plantarum that he first began consistently using a one-word "trivial name" together with a generic name in a system of binomial nomenclature.[7] This trivial name is what is now known as a specific epithet (ICN) or specific name (ICZN).[7] The Bauhins' genus names were retained in many of these, but the descriptive part was reduced to a single word.

text: Linnaeus's trivial names introduced an important new idea, namely that the function of a name could simply be to give a species a unique label. This meant that the name no longer need be descriptive; for example both parts could be derived from the names of people. Thus Gerard's phalangium ephemerum virginianum became Tradescantia virginiana, where the genus name honoured John Tradescant the younger,[note 1] an English botanist and gardener.[8] A bird in the parrot family was named Psittacus alexandri, meaning "Alexander's parrot", after Alexander the Great whose armies introduced eastern parakeets to Greece.[9] Linnaeus' trivial names were much easier to remember and use than the parallel polynomial names and eventually replaced them.[1]

text: Value[edit]

text: The value of the binomial nomenclature system derives primarily from its economy, its widespread use, and the uniqueness and stability of names it generally favors:

text:
Economy. Compared to the polynomial system which it replaced, a binomial name is shorter and easier to remember.[1] It corresponds to the widespread system of family name plus given name(s) used to name people in many cultures.[6]
Widespread use. The binomial system of nomenclature is governed by international codes and is used by biologists worldwide.[10] A few binomials have also entered common speech, such as Homo sapiens, E. coli, and Tyrannosaurus rex.
Uniqueness. Provided that taxonomists agree as to the limits of a species, it can have only one name that is correct under the appropriate nomenclature code, generally the earliest published if two or more names are accidentally assigned to a species.[11] However, establishing that two names actually refer to the same species and then determining which has priority can be difficult, particularly if the species was named by biologists from different countries. Therefore, a species may have more than one regularly used name; all but one of these names are "synonyms".[12]
Stability. Although stability is far from absolute, the procedures associated with establishing binomial names, such as the principle of priority, tend to favor stability.[13] For example, when species are transferred between genera (as not uncommonly happens as a result of new knowledge), if possible the second part of the binomial is kept the same. Thus there is disagreement among botanists as to whether the genera Chionodoxa and Scilla are sufficiently different for them to be kept separate. Those who keep them separate give the plant commonly grown in gardens in Europe the name Chionodoxa siehei; those who do not give it the name Scilla siehei.[14] The siehei element is constant. Similarly if what were previously thought to be two distinct species are demoted to a lower rank, such as subspecies, where possible the second part of the binomial name is retained as the third part of the new name. Thus the Tenerife robin may be treated as a different species from the European robin, in which case its name is Erithacus superbus, or as only a subspecies, in which case its name is Erithacus rubecula superbus.[15] The superbus element of the name is constant.

text: Problems[edit]

text: Binomial nomenclature for species has the effect that when a species is moved from one genus to another, sometimes the specific name or epithet must be changed as well. This may happen because the specific name is already used in the new genus, or to agree in gender with the new genus. Some biologists have argued for the combination of the genus name and specific epithet into a single unambiguous name, or for the use of uninomials (as used in nomenclature of ranks above species).[16]

text: Because binomials are unique only within a kingdom, it is possible for two or more species to share the same binomial if they occur in different kingdoms. At least five instances of such binomial duplication occur.[17]

text: Relationship to classification and taxonomy[edit]

text: Nomenclature (including binomial nomenclature) is not the same as classification, although the two are related. Classification is the ordering of items into groups based on similarities or differences; in biological classification, species are one of the kinds of item to be classified.[18] In principle, the names given to species could be completely independent of their classification. This is not the case for binomial names, since the first part of a binomial is the name of the genus into which the species is placed. Above the rank of genus, binomial nomenclature and classification are partly independent; for example, a species retains its binomial name if it is moved from one family to another or from one order to another, unless it better fits a different genus in the same or different family, or it is split from its old genus and placed in a newly created genus. The independence is only partial since the names of families and other higher taxa are usually based on genera.[citation needed]

text: Taxonomy includes both nomenclature and classification. Its first stages (sometimes called "alpha taxonomy") are concerned with finding, describing and naming species of living or fossil organisms.[19] Binomial nomenclature is thus an important part of taxonomy as it is the system by which species are named. Taxonomists are also concerned with classification, including its principles, procedures and rules.[20]

text: Derivation of binomial names[edit]

text: A complete binomial name is always treated grammatically as if it were a phrase in the Latin language (hence the common use of the term "Latin name" for a binomial name). However, the two parts of a binomial name can each be derived from a number of sources, of which Latin is only one. These include:

text:
Latin, either classical or medieval. Thus, both parts of the binomial name Homo sapiens are Latin words, meaning "wise" (sapiens) "human/man" (Homo).
Classical Greek. The genus Rhododendron was named by Linnaeus from the Greek word ῥοδόδενδρον, itself derived from rhodon, "rose", and dendron, "tree".[21][22] Greek words are often converted to a Latinized form. Thus coca (the plant from which cocaine is obtained) has the name Erythroxylum coca. Erythroxylum is derived from the Greek words erythros, red, and xylon, wood.[23] The Greek neuter ending -ον (-on) is often converted to the Latin neuter ending -um.[note 2]
Other languages. The second part of the name Erythroxylum coca is derived from kuka, the name of the plant in Aymara and Quechua.[24][25] Since many dinosaur fossils were found in Mongolia, their names often use Mongolian words, e.g. Tarchia from tarkhi, meaning "brain", or Saichania meaning "beautiful one".
Names of people (often naturalists or biologists). The name Magnolia campbellii commemorates two people: Pierre Magnol, a French botanist, and Archibald Campbell, a doctor in British India.[26]
Names of places. The lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, is widespread in the United States.[27]
Other sources. Some binominal names have been constructed from anagrams or other re-orderings of existing names. Thus the name of the genus Muilla is derived by reversing the name Allium.[28] Names may also be derived from jokes or puns. For example, Ratcliffe described a number of species of Rhinoceros beetle, including Cyclocephala nodanotherwon.[29]

text: The first part of the name, which identifies the genus, must be a word which can be treated as a Latin singular noun in the nominative case. It must be unique within each kingdom, but can be repeated between kingdoms. Thus Huia recurvata is an extinct species of plant, found as fossils in Yunnan, China,[30] whereas Huia masonii is a species of frog found in Java, Indonesia.[31]

text: The second part of the name, which identifies the species within the genus, is also treated grammatically as a Latin word. It can have one of a number of forms.

text:
The second part of a binomial may be an adjective. The adjective must agree with the genus name in gender. Latin has three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter, shown by varying endings to nouns and adjectives. The house sparrow has the binomial name Passer domesticus. Here domesticus ("domestic") simply means "associated with the house". The sacred bamboo is Nandina domestica[32] rather than Nandina domesticus, since Nandina is feminine whereas Passer is masculine. The tropical fruit langsat is a product of the plant Lansium parasiticum, since Lansium is neuter. Some common endings for Latin adjectives in the three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) are -us, -a, -um (as in the previous example of domesticus); -is, -is, -e (e.g. tristis, meaning "sad"); and -or, -or, -us (e.g. minor, meaning "smaller"). For further information, see Latin declension: Adjectives.
The second part of a binomial may be a noun in the nominative case. An example is the binomial name of the lion, which is Panthera leo. Grammatically the noun is said to be in apposition to the genus name and the two nouns do not have to agree in gender; in this case, Panthera is feminine and leo is masculine.
The second part of a binomial may be a noun in the genitive (possessive) case. The genitive case is constructed in a number of ways in Latin, depending on the declension of the noun. Common endings for masculine and neuter nouns are -ii or -i in the singular and -orum in the plural, and for feminine nouns -ae in the singular and -arum in the plural. The noun may be part of a person's name, often the surname, as in the Tibetan antelope Pantholops hodgsonii, the shrub Magnolia hodgsonii, or the olive-backed pipit Anthus hodgsoni. The meaning is "of the person named", so that Magnolia hodgsonii means "Hodgson's magnolia". The -ii or -i endings show that in each case Hodgson was a man (not the same one); had Hodgson been a woman, hodgsonae would have been used. The person commemorated in the binomial name is not usually (if ever) the person who created the name; for example Anthus hodgsoni was named by Charles Wallace Richmond, in honour of Hodgson. Rather than a person, the noun may be related to a place, as with Latimeria chalumnae, meaning "of the Chalumna River". Another use of genitive nouns is in, for example, the name of the bacterium Escherichia coli, where coli means "of the colon". This formation is common in parasites, as in Xenos vesparum, where vesparum means "of the wasps", since Xenos vesparum is a parasite of wasps.

text: Whereas the first part of a binomial name must be unique within a kingdom, the second part is quite commonly used in two or more genera (as is shown by examples of hodgsonii above). The full binomial name must be unique within a kingdom.

text: Codes[edit]

text: From the early 19th century onwards it became ever more apparent that a body of rules was necessary to govern scientific names. In the course of time these became nomenclature codes. The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) governs the naming of animals,[33] the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) that of plants (including cyanobacteria), and the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB) that of bacteria (including Archaea). Virus names are governed by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), a taxonomic code, which determines taxa as well as names. These codes differ in certain ways, e.g.:

text:
"Binomial nomenclature" is the correct term for botany,[34] although it is also used by zoologists.[35] Since 1953, "binominal nomenclature" is the technically correct term in zoology. A binominal name is also called a binomen (plural binomina).[36]
Both codes consider the first part of the two-part name for a species to be the "generic name". In the zoological code (ICZN), the second part of the name is a "specific name". In the botanical code (ICN), it is a "specific epithet". Together, these two parts are referred to as a "species name" or "binomen" in the zoological code; or "species name", "binomial", or "binary combination" in the botanical code. "Species name" is the only term common to the two codes.
The ICN, the plant Code, does not allow the two parts of a binomial name to be the same (such a name is called a tautonym), whereas the ICZN, the animal Code, does. Thus the American bison has the binomial Bison bison; a name of this kind would not be allowed for a plant.
The starting points, the time from which these codes are in effect (retroactively), vary from group to group. In botany the starting point will often be in 1753 (the year Carl Linnaeus first published Species Plantarum). In zoology the starting point is 1758 (1 January 1758 is considered the date of the publication of Linnaeus's Systema Naturae, 10th Edition, and also Clerck's Aranei Svecici). Bacteriology started anew, with a starting point on 1 January 1980.[37]

text:
Summary of terminology for the names of species in the ICZN and ICN

Code
Full name
First part
Second part

ICZN
species name, binomen, binominal name
generic name, genus name
specific name

ICN
species name, binary combination, binomial (name)
generic name
specific epithet

tag: table

text: Unifying the different codes into a single code, the "BioCode", has been suggested, although implementation is not in sight. (There is also a code in development for a different system of classification which does not use ranks, but instead names clades. This is called the PhyloCode.)

text: Writing binomial names[edit]

text: By tradition, the binomial names of species are usually typeset in italics; for example, Homo sapiens.[38] Generally, the binomial should be printed in a font style different from that used in the normal text; for example, "Several more Homo sapiens fossils were discovered." When handwritten, each part of a binomial name should be underlined; for example, Homo sapiens.[39]

text: The first part of the binomial, the genus name, is always written with an initial capital letter. In current usage, the second part is never written with an initial capital.[40][41] Older sources, particularly botanical works published before the 1950s, use a different convention. If the second part of the name is derived from a proper noun, e.g. the name of a person or place, a capital letter was used. Thus the modern form Berberis darwinii was written as Berberis Darwinii. A capital was also used when the name is formed by two nouns in apposition, e.g. Panthera Leo or Centaurea Cyanus.[42][note 3]

text: When used with a common name, the scientific name often follows in parentheses, although this varies with publication.[43] For example, "The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is decreasing in Europe."

text: The binomial name should generally be written in full. The exception to this is when several species from the same genus are being listed or discussed in the same paper or report, or the same species is mentioned repeatedly; in which case the genus is written in full when it is first used, but may then be abbreviated to an initial (and a period/full stop).[44] For example, a list of members of the genus Canis might be written as "Canis lupus, C. aureus, C. simensis". In rare cases, this abbreviated form has spread to more general use; for example, the bacterium Escherichia coli is often referred to as just E. coli, and Tyrannosaurus rex is perhaps even better known simply as T. rex, these two both often appearing in this form in popular writing even where the full genus name has not already been given.

text: The abbreviation "sp." is used when the actual specific name cannot or need not be specified. The abbreviation "spp." (plural) indicates "several species". These abbreviations are not italicised (or underlined).[45] For example: "Canis sp." means "an unspecified species of the genus Canis", while "Canis spp." means "two or more species of the genus Canis". (The abbreviations "sp." and "spp." can easily be confused with the abbreviations "ssp." (zoology) or "subsp." (botany), plurals "sspp." or "subspp.", referring to one or more subspecies. See trinomen (zoology) and infraspecific name.)

text: The abbreviation "cf." (i.e. confer in Latin) is used to compare individuals/taxa with known/described species. Conventions for use of the "cf." qualifier vary.[46] In paleontology, it is typically used when the identification is not confirmed.[47] For example, "Corvus cf. nasicus" was used to indicate "a fossil bird similar to the Cuban crow but not certainly identified as this species".[48] In molecular systematics papers, "cf." may be used to indicate one or more undescribed species assumed related to a described species. For example, in a paper describing the phylogeny of small benthic freshwater fish called darters, five undescribed putative species (Ozark, Sheltowee, Wildcat, Ihiyo, and Mamequit darters), notable for brightly colored nuptial males with distinctive color patterns,[49] were referred to as "Etheostoma cf. spectabile" because they had been viewed as related to, but distinct from, Etheostoma spectabile (orangethroat darter).[50] This view was supported in varying degrees by DNA analysis. The somewhat informal use of taxa names with qualifying abbreviations is referred to as open nomenclature and it is not subject to strict usage codes.

text: In some contexts the dagger symbol ("†") may be used before or after the binomial name to indicate that the species is extinct.

text: Authority[edit]

text: In scholarly texts, at least the first or main use of the binomial name is usually followed by the "authority" – a way of designating the scientist(s) who first published the name. The authority is written in slightly different ways in zoology and botany. For names governed by the ICZN the surname is usually written in full together with the date (normally only the year) of publication. The ICZN recommends that the "original author and date of a name should be cited at least once in each work dealing with the taxon denoted by that name."[51] For names governed by the ICN the name is generally reduced to a standard abbreviation and the date omitted. The International Plant Names Index maintains an approved list of botanical author abbreviations. Historically, abbreviations were used in zoology too.

text: When the original name is changed, e.g. the species is moved to a different genus, both Codes use parentheses around the original authority; the ICN also requires the person who made the change to be given. Some examples:

text:
(Plant) Amaranthus retroflexus L. – "L." is the standard abbreviation for "Linnaeus"; the absence of parentheses shows that this is his original name.
(Plant) Hyacinthoides italica (L.) Rothm. – Linnaeus first named the Italian bluebell Scilla italica; Rothmaler transferred it to the genus Hyacinthoides.
(Animal) Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) – the original name given by Linnaeus was Fringilla domestica; unlike the ICN, the ICZN does not require the name of the person who changed the genus to be given.

text: Other ranks[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Binomial nomenclature, as described here, is a system for naming species. Implicitly it includes a system for naming genera, since the first part of the name of the species is a genus name. In a classification system based on ranks there are also ways of naming ranks above the level of genus and below the level of species. Ranks above genus (e.g., family, order, class) receive one-part names, which are conventionally not written in italics. Thus the house sparrow, Passer domesticus, belongs to the family Passeridae. Family names are normally based on genus names, although the endings used differ between zoology and botany.

text: Ranks below species receive three-part names, conventionally written in italics like the names of species. There are significant differences between the ICZN and the ICN. In zoology, the only rank below species is subspecies and the name is written simply as three parts (a trinomen). Thus one of the subspecies of the olive-backed pipit is Anthus hodgsoni berezowskii. In botany, there are many ranks below species and although the name itself is written in three parts, a "connecting term" (not part of the name) is needed to show the rank. Thus the American black elder is Sambucus nigra subsp. canadensis; the white-flowered form of the ivy-leaved cyclamen is Cyclamen hederifolium f. albiflorum.


document_title: Pam Beesly

question_text: what episode does jim find out pam is pregnant

text: Pam Beesly

text: Casting and character development[edit]

text: The character was originally created to be very similar to the British counterpart, Dawn Tinsley. Even minute details, such as how Pam wore her hair each day, were considered by executive producer, Greg Daniels.[2]

text: "When I went in for The Office, the casting director said to me, 'Please look normal'," recalls Jenna Fischer. "Don't make yourself all pretty, and dare to bore me with your audition. Those were her words. Dare to bore me."[3]

text: Heeding the advice, Fischer said little during the auditions, during which she was interviewed in character by show producers, in an improvisational format, to imitate the show's documentary premise. "My take on the character of Pam was that she didn't have any media training, so she didn't know how to be a good interview. And also, she didn't care about this interview," she told NPR. "So, I gave very short one-word answers and I tried very hard not to be funny or clever, because I thought that the comedy would come out of just, you know, the real human reactions to the situation...and they liked that take on it."[3]

text: "When I went in to the audition, the first question that they asked me in the character of Pam — they said, 'Do you like working as a receptionist?' I said, 'No.' And that was it. I didn't speak any more than that. And they started laughing."[3]

text: Fischer found herself creating a very elaborate backstory for the character. For the first few seasons, she kept a list of the character history revealed on-screen by the creators, as well as her own imaginative thoughts on Pam's history.[4] She created a rule with the set's hair and make-up department that it couldn't look as though it took Pam more than 30 minutes to do her hair,[5] and she formulated ideas as to who gave Pam each piece of jewelry she wore [6] or where she went to college.[6] Fischer also carefully crafted Pam's quiet persona. "Well, my character of Pam is really stuck," she explained to NPR. "I mean, she's a subordinate in this office. And so, I think that for her, the only way she can express herself is in the silences, but you can say so much by not saying anything."[3]

text: Originally meek and passive, the character grew more assertive as the seasons passed, prompting Fischer to reassess her portrayal. "I have to approach Pam differently [now]," she explained in Season 4, a defining season in which her character finally begins a long-awaited relationship with Jim and is accepted into the Pratt Institute. "She is in a loving relationship, she has found her voice, she has started taking art classes. All of these things must inform the character and we need to see changes in the way she moves, speaks, dresses, etc."[4]

text: Character history[edit]

text: Seasons 1–3[edit]

text: At the beginning of the series, Pam and Roy have been dating for eight years and engaged for three years. Their open-ended engagement has become one of Michael's running gags and a sore spot for Pam.

text: Pam does not want her current job to become permanent, remarking that "I don't think it's many little girls' dream to be a receptionist." Pam is apathetic toward her work, evidenced by her frequent games of FreeCell on her office computer. However, in the pilot episode, she breaks down crying when Michael pulls an ill-advised prank by telling her that she will be fired.

text: Michael has criticized Pam for simply forwarding calls to voice mail without answering and (in a deleted scene) for not sounding enthusiastic enough when speaking on the telephone. Pam is usually happy to abandon her work if asked to do something else by Jim. She will do extra, unnecessary work (such as making a casket for a dead bird or paper doves for the Office Olympics) to make other people happy.

text: Despite the abuse she takes from Michael, she never goes any further than calling him a jerk in the pilot. In later seasons, however, she becomes more honest and forward with Michael and will often make sarcastic comments toward him.

text: While engaged to Roy, Pam denies, or is in denial about, having any romantic feelings for Jim. When Jim confesses his love for her at the Dunder Mifflin "Casino Night" she turns him down. She later talks to her mom on the phone and says Jim is her best friend (though she doesn't say his name), and says "Yeah, I think I am" to an unheard question. She is interrupted by Jim, who enters and kisses her; she responds by kissing back.

text: Season three marks a turning point for Pam's character: she gains self-confidence and appears less passive and more self-assured as the season progresses. In "Gay Witch Hunt," the season's opener, it is revealed that Pam got cold feet before her wedding and did not marry Roy after all, and that Jim transferred to a different Dunder Mifflin branch, in Stamford, shortly after Pam rejected him a second time, after their kiss. Pam moves into her own apartment, begins taking art classes, a pursuit that Roy had previously dismissed as a waste of time, and buys a new car, a blue Toyota Yaris. Jim returns to Scranton later on as a result of "The Merger", and brings along a female co-worker, Karen Filippelli, whom he begins dating. Jim and Pam appeared to have ended all communication after Jim transfers to the Stamford branch (aside from an episode in which Jim accidentally calls Pam at the end of the work day), and their episodes together following the branch merge are tense, despite both admitting to still harboring feelings for the other during the presence of the documentary cameras.

text: Meanwhile, Roy vows to win Pam back. Roy's efforts to improve his relationship with Pam are quite successful, but once Pam and Roy are back together, he falls back into old habits almost immediately. When Roy and Pam attend an after work get-together at a local bar with their co-workers, Pam, feeling that she should be more honest with Roy, tells him about Jim kissing her at, "Casino Night." Roy yells, smashes a mirror, and trashes the bar. Pam, frightened and embarrassed by his reaction, breaks up with Roy immediately. Roy vows to kill Jim and in, "The Negotiation", Roy unsuccessfully tries to attack Jim at work (Jim is saved by Dwight's intervention), and is subsequently fired. Pam later reluctantly agrees to meet Roy for coffee at his request, and after the polite but brief meeting, it appears that their relationship has ended amicably with Roy encouraging Pam to pursue Jim.

text: Pam participates in an art show, but few people attend. Her co-worker, Oscar, brings his partner along who, not knowing that Pam is standing behind him, criticizes her work by proclaiming that "real art requires courage." Oscar then goes on to say that courage isn't one of Pam's strong points. Affected by this statement, Pam tells the documentary crew that she is going to be more honest, culminating in a dramatic coal walk during the next-to-last episode of the season, "Beach Games", and a seemingly sincere speech to Jim in front of the entire office about their relationship. Michael also comes to the art show and reveals his erratically kind heart and loyalty by buying, framing and hanging Pam's drawing of the Dunder Mifflin building in the office. In the season finale, "The Job," she leaves a friendly note in Jim's briefcase and an old memento depicting the 'gold medal' yogurt lid from the Office Olympics, which he sees during an interview for a job at Corporate in New York City. While he is asked how he "would function here in New York", Jim is shown to have his mind back in Scranton, still distracted by the thought of Pam. Jim withdraws his name from consideration and drives back to the office, where he interrupts a talking head Pam is doing for the documentary crew by asking her out for dinner. She happily accepts, visibly moved, abandoning a train of thought about how she would be fine if Jim got the job and never came back to Scranton. Karen quits soon after, becoming the regional manager at Dunder Mifflin's Utica branch.

text: Seasons 4–6[edit]

text: In Season 4, Pam retains the assertiveness she developed in the third season. She wears her hair down and has updated her old dowdy wardrobe.

text: In the season 4 premiere, "Fun Run", Jim and Pam confess that they have started dating after the camera crew catches them kissing. The office ultimately learns of their relationship in "Dunder Mifflin Infinity". In "Chair Model", after teasing Pam about his impending proposal, Jim tells the documentary crew he is not kidding around about an engagement and shows them a ring he bought a week after he and Pam started dating. In the next few episodes, Jim fake-proposes to Pam multiple times. In "Goodbye, Toby", Pam discovers she's been accepted at Pratt Institute, an art and design school in Brooklyn . In an interview later in the episode, Jim announces that he will propose to Pam that evening. Just as Jim is preparing to propose, however, Andy Bernard stands up and makes his own impromptu proposal to Angela. Having had his thunder stolen by Andy, Jim reluctantly puts the ring back in his jacket pocket, leaving Pam visibly disappointed as she was expecting Jim to propose that night.

text: In the Season 5 premiere, "Weight Loss", Pam begins her three-month course at the Pratt Institute. In this episode, Jim proposes in the pouring rain at a rest stop, saying that he "can't wait". In "Business Trip", Pam learns that she is failing one of her classes and will have to remain in New York another three months to retake it. Although Jim is supportive and tells her he will wait for her to come back "the right way", she ultimately makes the decision to return home, saying that she realized she hated graphic design and missed Scranton. A deleted scene for the episode shows Jim looking through Pam's graphic design projects, which he thinks are "cool", as well as a notebook filled with pencil sketches, which he finds a lot more impressive than her graphic design projects, implying her talents lie in hand-drawn works. In "Two Weeks", Pam agrees to become Michael's first saleswoman in his not-yet-established company, The Michael Scott Paper Co., as a supportive Jim looks on. When David Wallace makes an offer to buy the company Michael negotiates in order to get their jobs at Dunder Mifflin back instead, including adding Pam to the sales team. In "Company Picnic", Pam, after dominating the company volleyball tournament, injures her ankle during a game and is taken to the hospital against her wishes. At the hospital, the camera crew is stationed outside an exam room while a doctor updates Jim and Pam on her condition. There is no audio as the camera shows Jim and Pam embrace, looking shocked and ecstatic. It is implied that she is pregnant and is confirmed in the Season 6 premiere, "Gossip".

text: Jim and Pam marry early in the season, at Niagara Falls, during the highly anticipated, hour long episode, "Niagara". The ending of the episode, in which their co-workers dance down the aisle, is an imitation of a viral YouTube video — JK Wedding Entrance Dance.[7] Following the wedding, a multi-episode story arc begins in which it is revealed that Michael hooked up with Pam's mother the night of the wedding. The two break up during "Double Date", an episode that ends with Pam slapping Michael in response to his actions.

text: In "The Delivery" of Season 6, Pam and Jim have their first child, a daughter named Cecelia Marie Halpert. Jenna Fischer was granted naming rights by show producers, and chose to name her after her own niece.[8]

text: Season 7[edit]

text: In "Counseling", Pam feels inadequate about her poor performance in sales and tricks Gabe into promoting her to a phony new salaried position called office administrator. In "China", Pam tries to use her authority as office administrator to force building manager Dwight to stop his annoying cost-cutting measures. Pam threatens to move the office to a new building, which Dwight discovers doesn't exist. Pam saves face, however, when Dwight secretly has his assistant provide her with a book on building regulations that proves Dwight's measures were not allowed. The episode is another example of Dwight's covert protectiveness and fondness for Pam (as previously demonstrated in "The Injury", "Back from Vacation", "The Job" and "Diwali"); Mindy Kaling said during an online Q&A session that Dwight has a soft spot for her that he does not extend to anyone else at the office. She also uses her position to buy Erin Hannon an expensive desk top computer to replace the terrible one she had to use for years, as well as discreetly giving Andy a new computer, and giving Daryll three sick days. At the end of the episode she proudly says that she is, "Full on corrupt."

text: In "Goodbye, Michael", Pam almost misses saying good-bye to Michael, as she spends most of the day out of the office trying to price shredders. Jim figures out Michael's plan to leave early and tells her by text. Pam reaches the airport in time and is the last person to see Michael before he leaves.

text: Season 8[edit]

text: At the beginning of Season 8, Pam is revealed to be pregnant with her and Jim's second child, Philip Halpert. The child coincided with Jenna Fischer's actual pregnancy. She begins her maternity leave after "Pam's Replacement". Pam returns in "Jury Duty", where she and Jim bring Cece and Phillip into the office. In both "Tallahassee" and "Test the Store" Pam is shown helping, and developing her friendship with Andy.

text: Season 9[edit]

text: Early in season 9, Jim is restless about his life in Scranton and helps a friend start a Sports Marketing business, Athlead, in Philadelphia but he keeps it a secret from Pam until the third episode "Andy's Ancestry". Although Pam is happy for his decision, she is concerned about the fact that he had kept it a secret from her and she is later disturbed to hear about just how much of their money he had invested. Jim begins spending part of each work week in Philadelphia, but in "Customer Loyalty", the strain of this on Pam is evident when she breaks down in tears, and is comforted by Brian, the boom mic operator of the film crew.

text: In "Moving On", Pam interviews for a job in Philadelphia to be closer to Jim, but she is turned off by the idea when her prospective new boss bears a striking resemblance in behavior to Michael Scott. Over dinner, Pam reveals to Jim that she doesn't really want to move to Philadelphia after all. However, in "Livin' the Dream", when Athlead is bought out and Jim is offered a large sum of money for 3 months to pitch the company across the country, Pam overhears Jim refuse the opportunity because of her and appears to have mixed feelings about this decision. In "A.A.R.M.", Pam tells Jim that she's afraid that he will resent her for making him stay and that she might not be enough for him. Jim asks the camera crew to compile documentary footage of the two of them to show her. When she finishes the montage, which shows Jim taking back a letter he intended to give her with his teapot gift during Christmas; Jim finally gives her that letter, and she reads it, visibly moved. In the series finale, which takes place a year later, she reveals to Jim that she secretly put the house on the market, so that they can move to Austin, Texas, and take his job back at Athlead (now Athleap).

text: Coworker relations[edit]

text: From her years working the front desk, Pam has become well-acquainted with the Dunder-Mifflin staff and is consistently shown to have a thorough understanding of her coworkers' personalities, including the more eccentric individuals Dwight Schrute and Michael Scott. She uses this familiarity to manipulate them, often for their and the company's best interests (such as her giving the staff elaborate instructions on how to handle a heartbroken Michael in "The Chump") but also occasionally for her own. This familiarity plays a large part in her efficiency as office administrator and was crucial to her being promoted to the previously non-existent position.

text: Jim Halpert[edit]

text: The "will they or won't they" tension between Jim and Pam is a strong storyline in the early episodes of The Office, encompassing much of Seasons 1 to 3. In the opener of Season 4, the two characters are revealed to be dating, and as such, other character romances, such as the romance between fellow co-workers Dwight Schrute and Angela Martin, begin to move more toward the forefront of episodes. In Season 6, Jim and Pam are married in the season's 4th and 5th episodes (hour long), a feat considered noteworthy by many television critics, as bringing together the two lead love interests in a television series is often thought to be a risky venture.[9] Their child is born in the second half of the season, during another hour long, "The Delivery". Pam and Jim's second child is born during season 8. In season 9, their marriage becomes strained when Jim takes up a second job in Philadelphia. They ultimately decide to leave Dunder Mifflin together so Jim can pursue his dream job.

text: Roy Anderson[edit]

text: When the series begins, Pam is engaged to her high school sweetheart Roy Anderson; this engagement is revealed to be three years old and running. They finally set a date, but Pam calls off the wedding at the last minute. They get back together once, briefly, but Pam is much more assertive, and finally breaks up with him after he has a violent outburst. Roy is deeply flawed - he is overbearing, neglectful, dismissive of her desire to be an artist, and offers her sex as a gift on Valentine's Day. Jim comments in Season 2 that Pam does not like to "bother" Roy with her "thoughts or feelings". He tells the camera crew that the only two problems in Pam's life seemed to be Roy and her job at Dunder Mifflin.

text: In the early seasons, there is a great deal of tension between Jim and Roy, with Roy often acting threateningly towards Jim. In "Basketball", when Jim starts to impress Pam with his basketball skills, Roy elbows Jim in the nose. In season 2, when Jim encourages Pam to pursue a graphic arts internship offered by Dunder Mifflin, Roy objects to the opportunity and eventually convinces her that the idea is foolish. Pam ultimately calls off her wedding to Roy, but they remain friendly and he is determined to win her back by being less of a jerk. She reconciles with Roy at Phyllis's wedding as a response to watching Jim date Karen. In an attempt at a fresh start with Roy, Pam comes clean about Jim kissing her during "Casino Night". Roy flies into a violent rage and Pam ends the relationship on the spot. The next day, Roy attempts to attack Jim in the office but is stopped by Dwight's pepper spray and is summarily fired. After losing his job, Roy meets Pam for coffee and says that even though Jim is dating Karen, she should at least make an effort to date him (inasmuch as she called off the wedding because of him).

text: In season 5, Jim and Roy run into each other at a bar and Roy learns that Jim and Pam are engaged. The mood is somewhat awkward, but Roy is congratulatory, but then makes a somewhat passive-aggressive comment, seemingly meant to make Jim feel insecure about his current role in Pam's life, which tempts him to drive to Pratt, where she is attending art classes. Jim gets on the freeway, but changes his mind and remembers that he trusts Pam. Jim didn't want to treat Pam the same way Roy treated her.

text: Michael Scott[edit]

text: In the series pilot, Michael is overtly rude to Pam and at one point fakes her firing, leaving her in tears. He often makes suggestive if harmless remarks about her beauty and general appearance, and at one point lies to the camera that they used to date (inspiring a horrified "WHAT???" from Pam when an interviewer relays the message to her). However, his impulsive attempt to kiss her during Diwali is shot down and marked the end of any romantic dreams for Michael with Pam. Over time, the combination of Michael being supportive of her goals, her transition from a bad relationship with Roy to a great one with Jim as well as her finding a job she not only enjoys but is effective at in the office administrator position and Michael finding his own soulmate in Holly Flax made Pam soften her stance towards Michael, and the experience at the Michael Scott Paper Company further bonded them (as did Michael's decision to choose Pam instead of Ryan Howard as the only MSPC salesman to keep that job when Michael returned as Branch Manager). Pam was furious at Michael for dating her mom Helene, and excoriated him at length during "The Lover" before eventually slapping him in "Double Date", but they once again were able to be civil to each other afterward. Pam does set up boundaries around her personal life that Michael can't cross, like telling him that he wasn't Cece's godfather. By Season 7, Pam acts as something of a guardian angel for Michael, steering him away from (numerous) bad ideas and towards his (fewer but real) good ones, such as his successful efforts to propose to Holly. In Michael's finale "Goodbye, Michael", Pam spends the whole day looking for a shredder, believing that the next day Michael was leaving. As Michael takes off his microphone and heads down the airport concourse, Pam runs to him with no shoes and hugs him as he kisses her cheek. The two have a nice moment and he walks off, leaving her holding her shoes. She then tells the camera that he was happy, wanting to be an advanced rewards member, and was glad to be going home to see Holly. She then is there to watch Michael's plane take off. In a deleted scene from "The Inner Circle", we learn Pam is flattered that Michael named his new puppy "Pamela Beagsley", and in "The List" she playfully teases Jim by calling their second child "Little Michael Scott", further proving that the two have developed a genuine friendship.

text: Toby Flenderson[edit]

text: Toby, the Human Resources Representative for Dunder Mifflin in the Scranton branch, has a secret crush on Pam. In "A Benihana Christmas" she gives him her Dunder-Mifflin bathrobe, a display of friendly affection, after he spent the day feeling bad that Dwight took his. In "Night Out", Toby awkwardly rubs her knee while they share a laugh (and while Jim sits just on her other side), and the rest of the office watches in horror. In his mortification, Toby immediately announces that he is moving to Costa Rica before jumping over the locked gate and fleeing. In "Goodbye, Toby", he purchases a DSLR camera just to get a picture with Pam. On the eve of his departure, she confesses to the cameras that she always thought he was "kind of cute". The crush receives less attention after Toby's return. However, in "Niagara", Pam and Jim are late for their wedding and he is visibly excited at the prospect that the wedding might not happen. In "Finale", Pam and Toby dance with each other at Dwight's wedding, with Toby beginning to cry as Pam comforts him. When she asks, "is it me?", he replies that "it's everything!".

text: Appearances[edit]

text: Pam Halpert has appeared in every episode with the exceptions of "Business Ethics" (except for the deleted scenes), "St. Patrick's Day", and "New Leads" in which only her voice is heard, and several season 8 episodes from "Mrs. California" to "Pool Party", where she did not appear at all as Fischer was on maternity leave.[10]